Maple Galettes with Wiltshire Ham and Gruyere are a wonderful savoury and gluten-free way to celebrate Pancake Day. These nutty buckwheat pancakes which hint at sweetness due to the maple syrup encase deliciously oozing gruyere and tasty ham.

It’s Shrove Tuesday today, the day before the start of Lent when we’re supposed to be purging our larders of all the ungodly ingredients. Funny how the ungodly ingredients lead to pancakes which are about as heavenly a food as invented.

However, for many years I never really bothered with acknowledging Shrove Tuesday as I was usually on a diet and then eventually became gluten-free which really put paid to my crepe affair. However, recently I have been indulging in galettes which are a traditional French style of savoury pancake made from buckwheat flour. Handily buckwheat flour is also naturally gluten-free which means this year since I am definitely not dieting (is embracing gluttony the opposite of dieting?) I have no excuses for forsaking Pancake Day. In fact, I am diving in with gusto.

Galettes are usually made with a savoury filling which is ideal for me as pancakes which you can eat in lieu of breakfast, dinner or lunch are my favourite. In particular I find you cannot beat good old ham and cheese. The cheese melts and oozes out of the galette and the ham provides some delicious meaty substance to the proceedings. This week I made a stack of galettes at the weekend and have been re-heating them in the pan for a quick breakfast which has turned out to be a great way to meal prep. I love a pre-prepped breakfast as I find the first meal of the day my most difficult to conquer. I am a nightmare when it comes to breakfast. I can’t handle anything sweet in the mornings, I don’t like eggs and recently my digestive system has been rejecting gluten-free bread. This might be due to the xanthan gum present in most brands which doesn’t really agree with me. Anyhow these galettes are ideal in ensuring I get a good savoury kick-start to the day.

If you have ever eaten galettes made properly on a billig, which is one of those traditional crepe makers you see being manned at food markets, you know them to be wafer thin, light, lacy and crisp. However, making them homestyle in a cast iron skillet pan yielded perfectly acceptable results in my opinion and means I can get my galette fix whenever I need it.

I chose to use gruyere for the cheese in this recipe because it melts so well and gives a lovely strong nutty taste. I used really good Wiltshire ham as well that, although it was packaged ham, was beautifully thin and dry. I find a lot of ham which you can buy at the supermarket to be wet and bland tasting so make sure you get some nice stuff, if you can make it to your local deli then even better. These Maple Galettes with Yorkshire Ham and Gruyere are pure perfection with the best ingredients. As you can tell by the title I went a little off-piste from the usual French recipe by adding a couple of tablespoons of maple syrup to the batter. This adds a delicious sweetness and depth and really brings out the taste of the cheese.

To be honest I’m not sure I’m going to limit myself to only eating these galettes on Pancake Day as now I’ve got this recipe under my belt they might become a bit of a staple for the next few weeks. So much for purging my larder, I’m just going to stock up with my ungodly ingredients afresh.

Print Recipe

Maple Galettes with Wiltshire Ham and Gruyere

Maple Galettes with Wiltshire Ham and Gruyere are a wonderful savoury and gluten-free way to celebrate Pancake Day. These nutty buckwheat pancakes which hint at sweetness due to the maple syrup encase deliciously oozing gruyere and tasty ham.

Prep Time

5minutes

Cook Time

15minutes

Servings

6people

Ingredients

100gbuckwheat flour

pinchof salt

1egg

300mlwhole milk

2tablespoonsmaple syrup

30gunsalted butter

180ggruyeregrated

200gWiltshire hamtorn

Prep Time

5minutes

Cook Time

15minutes

Servings

6people

Ingredients

100gbuckwheat flour

pinchof salt

1egg

300mlwhole milk

2tablespoonsmaple syrup

30gunsalted butter

180ggruyeregrated

200gWiltshire hamtorn

Instructions

Whisk buckwheat flour, salt, egg and half the milk in a medium sized mixing bowl until it forms a paste. Then pour in the rest of the milk and the maple syrup and whisk well to form a smooth batter.

Heat all the butter in a 9 inch bottomed cast iron skillet pan on a medium-high heat until the butter has melted.

Swirl the pan around so the butter completely covers the pan then pour out the excess butter into a cup and set aside.

Pour 80ml (1/3 cup) of the galette batter into pan, tipping the pan so that the batter thinly covers the bottom of it.

Cook for about 3-4 minutes until the bottom of the galette is getting golden and crisp, then sprinkle on 30g of the gruyere all over the galette plus a few slices of the torn ham.

Then fold the galette in half, and then half again. Remove from the pan and set aside to rest on a warm plate (or in a very low oven) whilst you prepare the rest of the galettes.

Wipe the pan with some kitchen towel to remove any melted cheese or sticky bits of galette.

Pour in a teaspoon or so of the pre-melted butter, swirl the pan to cover the bottom then add another 80ml of the batter to produce another galette and follow the rest of the instructions as before.

Make as many galettes as the batter allows.

Serve the galettes piping hot.

SHOP THE RECIPE

The buckwheat flour I use for this recipe is Amisa Organic Buckwheat Flour GF. It’s a lovely wholegrain flour with tonnes of flavour and is certified gluten-free.

One of my very favourite saucepans is my cast iron skillet pan and is perfect for making these galettes. I originally asked Luke to get me this for Christmas a couple of years ago as I was keen on an implement that could be easily transferred from hob to oven and this is ideal. I use it mostly for cooking whole chicken breasts, by searing the chicken on in the skillet on the hob and then finishing off for 10 minutes in the oven. It’s now invaluable to me and the pan I have is the Dust 40510-617-0 Frypan with cast iron handle, cast iron, black, 26 cm which I love love love.

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Hello, so lovely of you to drop by. I am Georgina. I bake a lot, eat a lot and love writing about my kitchen adventures here. I run a gluten-free cake business and have a stall at the local farmer’s market selling my cakes and preserves. I have 2 cats, 1 dog, 1 husband and a delightful toddler who runs me ragged.